


Butterfly Soul

by Ellisaed



Category: Fullmetal Alchemist (Anime 2003), Fullmetal Alchemist - All Media Types, Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood & Manga
Genre: Edward Elric - Freeform, Elric Brothers, FullMetal Alchemist - Freeform, Fullmetal Alchemist Brotherhood - Freeform, Gen, Human Alphonse Elric, Other, Post-Series, Restored Alphonse Elric, WIP, Work In Progress, fma, fmab - Freeform, post Judgment Day
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-06-13
Updated: 2015-06-13
Packaged: 2018-04-04 05:10:47
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 871
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4126542
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ellisaed/pseuds/Ellisaed
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Gone is the shadow of Judgment Day into the light of a new life. Two weeks have Edward and Alphonse spent in recovery in the Rockbell Home, and despite a time of peace, the end of the storm was simply the calm preceding. </p><p>Edward is the first to notice Alphonse ... is not the same person he used to be. It did not strike him like a blatant blow. Rather it came softly like a hand finding rest on his shoulder; at first it was warm and comforting, but soon the grip began to choke.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Butterfly Soul

**Author's Note:**

> This is a teaser for a fanfic called "Butterfly Soul" that is still a work in progress. I thought this was an appropriate part of the story that gives a feel to the entire fic, and definitely one of my favourite parts written thus far.

Edward had considered postponing the daily walk he took with his younger brother, contemplating the paleness in the skin that lingered like memories from the night before. It was not a welcomed hue. Ed would not take the gentle way Al brushed the 

Of course, being the eldest son, Ed knew it was his job to be the parental figure and say no, for the sake of Al's health. But there was no hindering Alphonse's persistence, though the eyes may have be embraced with grey the bright strength within was hard to deny. There were more than a few times Alphonse had stumbled upon the old dirt path they had walked many times before, and Edward had been there to support him and regain balance. He had to bite his tongue, knowing his doting made Al grow even more stubborn in his persistence, and simply followed aside him as they made their gradual way.

Edward shifted his shoulders, bark of the old tree digging in through his shirt, cuffed at the sleeves. He chewed lazily on a dried piece of weed plucked from the unruly grasses in the wide unowned field; luckily Al had taken Ed's suggestion to rest a while without much protest.

 _Good thing too, I'm hot as hell_.

Even at sunset hour, the sun was hot and the little bit of shade the rotting tree provided was welcomed relief.

Alphonse, leaning carefully on his crutches, was inspecting branches of the tree a few arms lengths away from his older brother, eyes wide in a serious look of awe. Ed let a chuckle leave his nose, the sight of his curious little brother amusing him much like it usually did. Always was he the one to capture frogs in the river, and nearly fall off of the branches of trees climbing curiously to watch a nest of baby birds being fed. He would stay here for hours, if allowed.

"Hey Al, it's getting dark." Ed called, arms stretching above himself as a yawn claimed him, "Winry said dinner would be done by the time we got back."

Alphonse's gaze was fixed on the bare end of a low-dangling tree branch, only blinking in response.

"Hey, you better not be spacing out on me again!"

"Brother ... come, look!"

Ed spat the weed from his mouth, shoving his hands in his pockets as he complied. Alphonse smiled as he shuffled through the grass to his side, turning back to the branch he had been staring at again.

"What, another stick?"

"No silly, look closer."

Ed squinted and leaned forward onto the tips of his toes, nose nearly touching the branch. Yes, there was something there. A small oval, dangling from the tip of the branch, shining in the fading sun like the chrome of freshly polished automail.

"It's a bean."

Al nudged his crutch into his brothers thigh harshly for his antics, causing him to yelp. "It's called a chrysalis. It comes from the Xerxian word _chrysós_ , which means gold."

"Mm." Ed nodded, rubbing the spot of contact Al had hit him, "There's a caterpillar in there huh?"

"It's somewhere in between that and a butterfly by now, a pupae. It's made out of the caterpillars own skin."

"Ew, that's gross!"

"They hide in there and grow and grow until they emerge."

The wind arrived, cool with the onset of evening, nudging the vulnerable little bulb of life they stared at gently. Ed found himself watching, watching his brother stare from his own two living eyes instead of those lifeless glowing red reflections, watching carefully.

"Brother?"

"Mhm."

"How do you think it knows when to emerge?"

Ed pondered for a moment, thinking back through all those books he had read about the flow of life, the tendencies and patterns in nature. "All animals have instincts that even scientists can't understand Al. Just like how it knows just the right time to make its little pod, I guess it knows when to fly away."

"Do you think it's tough for them to break free? To tear away their own skin?"

"If it's the only way out, then I guess ... they have no other choice."

"Do you think their skin is tougher than human skin?"

"Our skin is very fragile. Much more delicate than that bean-thing."

"Do you think - "

"Ugh, no more questions! My brain hurts!"

Edward turned away and began toward the path again, his shadow deepened at his feet, "Come on, leave the baby butterfly and let's go back already! Enough stalling!"

Ed glanced back impatiently, the form of his brother a silhouette in the setting sun. Slightly hunched shoulders, from leaning on his crutches, straightened for a moment, his right hand reaching out to touch the small pod. Fingers brushed against it, as if the most beloved jewel, or the delicate skin of a newborn, and his eyes widened. Edward understood then. The metallic shell, and the precious delicate being growing within, hidden from the world. Numb to the cool of the wind, the feel of rain. Its only way of rebirth would destruction, the tearing away of its ownself. He understood.

Alphonse watched the chrysalis a moment longer before joining his brothers side, once again like many times before.


End file.
